Jesus and New BirthJesus and New Birth
Andrew Crawford / General Adult The Gospel of John / John 3:1–21 Introduction: Overview where we’ve come so far in the gospel. Reference John’s purpose of writing the gospel in John 20:30-31 “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Who is Jesus? ESV Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. John the apostle crafts his gospel in such a way that Jesus alludes back to the Prologue in John 1:12-13 ESV But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. Already, John the Apostle has a theme that salvation is not just for one ethnicity, but it’s for the whole world. First, Nicodemus asks Jesus a question, by way of a statement. He’s saying the Pharisees at least are confused about who he is. Is he the Messiah? He’s doing signs that the Messiah should do, but he’s also not a military leader/king who is overthrowing the Roman occupation. Nicodemus says “we”, not a royal “we”, not an editorial “we”, likely either a group within the Sanhedrin who were at least open to Jesus being a legitimate prophet/rabbi, or a group of Nicodemus-like people who were more moderate in their views of Jesus’ claims and ministry Nicodemus may not be upset that Jesus drove out a lot of the riff-raff from the temple courts, the temple was the domain of the Sadducees, and as a Pharisee, Nicodemus probably was ok with a little cage-rattling. The words unless he is born again could be understood in the sense of being born from above, or of drawing attention to the birth’s spiritual character. Nicodemus clearly understood them in the first sense and rejected the possibility of a second birth. But Jesus meant them in the second sense, i.e. a totally different kind of birth. Many of the early fathers understood the statement to refer to baptism in the light of v 5, but the most natural understanding is of spiritual regeneration. Guthrie, Donald. 1994. “John.” In New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, edited by D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, and G. J. Wenham, 4th ed., 1031. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press. How does one enter the kingdom of God? ESV Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus assumes that entering the kingdom involves him being and doing something. He gets hung up on what he has to do to be born again. According to the Mishnah Sanhedrin 10.1, the common belief of the days was that all Israelites would take part in future glory except for the apostate and overtly sinful. (Kostenberger, 122) Some versions put a note that the pronoun “you” here and in several places in this passage is plural. That could be that Jesus and Nicodemus are not alone, they have brought some followers and it’s a nighttime theology party. Or, is Jesus speaking to Nicodemus as a representative of the Jewish leaders as a whole? Or Jesus is talking to Nicodemus as a representative of each of us as we come to Jesus? I would say it’s some of each. Jesus does call each of us to be born again. How? By faith in the work of God the Holy Spirit, not because of something that we have done, are, or are doing. What is New Birth? ESV Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” Ultimately, Nicodemus assumes that because he’s ethnically pure and a keeper of the law, he’s going to make it into the kingdom of God. Jesus turns that assumption on its head. True life comes via new birth, and new birth comes not because a person wants it, works really hard to get it, is tied to physical birth, but because the Spirit moves in their heart. ESV I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Nicodemus is contrasted with the Samaritan woman in chapter 4 in just about every category. Leon Morris writes, “It is part of John’s aim to show that Jesus showed forth His glory not in spite of His earthly humiliations, but precisely by means of those humiliations. Supremely, this is the case with the cross. To the outward eye this was the uttermost in degradation, the death of a felon. To the eye of faith is was (and is) the supreme glory.” (Morris, 226) Belief in the name of Jesus. v. 18 contra 2:23 - Jesus is talking about something different from the belief in the name of the Son from belief in the Son along with the signs (i.e. wine at Cana and cleansing the temple) There is some debate, but because Nicodemus doesn’t make a faith statement and John just lets him fall off the narrative until after Christ’s crucifixion, it doesn’t appear that Nicodemus believed in Jesus, ergo he didn’t have regeneration or the new birth. Like the story of the rich young ruler when Jesus exposes his idol of power and possessions, Nicodemus doesn’t turn and follow Jesus. Great comfort in witnessing, in that Jesus himself is preaching the gospel to Nicodemus, and Nicodemus’s heart isn’t changed.
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